


Let's Talk Business

by isthisagoodname



Category: Warframe
Genre: Gen, Spoilers up through the Second Dream, will add tags if they come up?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21827881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isthisagoodname/pseuds/isthisagoodname
Summary: The Business had called the Tenno to Fortuna, but he wasn't quite sure what to expect once they finally arrived. One in particular draws attention.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	1. Odd Outlanders

**Author's Note:**

> I tend to get ideas, write them down, and let them ferment for a few months before I remember to refine or share any of them. It's only been a year+ since the Fortuna ARG and update, not like I'm late with this or anything...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just what has Biz called to Fortuna?

Biz was no stranger to oddness, but even this was a bit much.

Outlanders were all strange in their various ways, but these ones were something else. He had communicated with them before via haphazard comm links and file drops, but this was the first time he had actually encountered any of the Tenno in person. 

The first thing he learned is that while there was no single way to identify any of them, he'd also never have any question in doing so. They came in countless shapes and sizes, ranging from simplistic to elaborately ornamented, dull to straight up gaudy. Whatever it was, they always stood out, strange and statuesque even as they cut down taxmen and trod barefoot through subzero conditions.

They were odd in other ways as well. Excellent listeners, all of them, but not once did he find one offering their input to a conversation. If it weren't for the fact that he had interacted with them in offworld transmissions, he would have almost thought them something like one the moa proxies. He or Eudi would give them a job and they'd go out wordlessly, carry it out with frightening prowess, and return, waiting for the next assignment. They didn't even seem to bother to rest between, only shuffling about and exploring when they had little better to do.

One of them caused quite a stir when she first arrived. He had seen numerous Tenno with Grineer-styled forms and gear, but this one landed in a suit and plating reminiscent of a Corpus vandal assassin, with hazard-orange striped armor and carrying enough tek to lay waste to the city. It was only the bright Solaris United sigil over her chest that reassured anyone that she wasn't one of Nef's agents coming to reap vengeance.

No, she was just another Tenno, cold and calm as the rest. If anything, she was one of the more patient ones, taking the time to bring her hands together and bow after each conversation before running off. Still, the fuss she caused made him curious, and he managed to scrounge up some sparse information on her through his usual contacts. 

This one went by the name of Glitch. She was one of the more veteran Tenno, with an unusual Nova warframe. Like most of those forms she specialized in massive and messy displays of destruction, but some inverted quirk of her powers beyond his understanding was what gave her the moniker. She was as friendly as any of them got, even if her appearance made him jump each time she showed up.

And yet, despite the skittishness shown towards her, she continually returned to him. When she wasn't off exploding everything with a group under Eudi's awd direction, she proved to be a rather skilled tracker and gatherer. This figure could violate fundamental physics with a mere wave of a hand, but was plenty content to crawl through the snow and drag servofish out of the muck for him. He was ever grateful for her aid and, looking up from his latest project, was happy to see her approaching once more.


	2. Spilling Guts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Servofish guts, yum? Direct continuation of the previous chapter.

Glitch laid held up an ornate charamote for him to examine, the prize of her latest excursion, and undoubtedly had many more in tow. He waved warmly towards her. “Are we dissembling this lot?”

She nodded, and the two of them got to work. Most of the Tenno didn't need any help, but Glitch used to. The first couple of times parting fish she only stood and watched him strip down the mechanics, but lately she had started to try and join in. It was obvious that she didn't know how, but she took to instruction well, even if it did end up slowing him down. 

It was quiet and busy work, the actions more rote than anything else for him, and he idly watched as she fumbled her way through it. It wasn’t out of incompetence that she struggled with this, only inexperience. He nodded; she just needed some more practice, was all. With that conclusion made, his mind started to wander further on, towards the Tenno in general. There was something he always wondered about them, but hadn't felt the time or courage to ask. They were about halfway through parting out her haul when he finally decided to try.

“Can you speak?”

He had conversed with groups of Tenno many times via their text-based datalinks, but the most that he ever got out of any of them in person were gestures and nods. Most of the rumours he heard told that they were mute, but he knew those to be wrong. Many of them were quite well capable of noise: producing terrible cries, strange song and inhuman monstrous * _ sounds* _ as they tore apart Nef's forces, but never once had he heard any words. Glitch herself would occasionally emit a strange sort of hum, but he never heard more than that.

She paused and set her tools down, staring at the half gutted wiring for a long moment before looking up to him. She seemed to have made a decision, and answered him with a near whisper. “Yes.”

He was surprised, not just by the answer. Her voice was soft, and sounded far too small and timid for the prolific force of casual destruction that he knew. Most of all, he was puzzled by the secrecy of it all. “Why the silence then? Pretending to be mute instead of talking to folk?”

She shook her head. “We couldn't before. Didn't remember how.” 

He was incredulous. “You woke up one day and suddenly remembered?”

That got a reaction from her. She huffed with a small laugh and seemed to visibly relax, as though some sort of wall was just broken down. “Yes.” 

He just chuckled in return. It must have been some kind of Tenno joke, but he figured that joke was on him. The worst thing about this, he mused, was that nobody would believe he actually managed to get one to laugh. He tossed a pile of scrap her way and sighed in mock insult. “Alright alright, I get it, no need to lie about it. You'd just rather not talk to a scoundrel like me.” 

She caught the trash and he thought he heard a faint crackle of ionization and annoyance.  _ “No.” _ It was only then that he remembered that he was poking at a walking antimatter bomb that could end him and everyone in a hundred meter radius with barely any effort. And she sounded tense. “We don't talk to anyone.”

“Well, why not?”

Glitch paused for a long moment, not at all sure of how to answer. In the past, the Lotus had always spoken for them and figured out the orders and arrangements. She took care of all the complications and details. It all was so much simpler back then. “We… never needed to.”

He finished prying apart a muckwinder. “Well, if you ever  _ want _ to. I'll listen.” 

She gave a small sigh, suddenly feeling incredibly nervous. To hear something like that from a person like him felt profoundly strange. This wasn't a bound caretaker watching after her, but just some person, a point of contact for materials and missions. She didn't quite know how to react to that. “O-okay.”

Biz chuckled and finished cleaning up the last of the fish. “Nothing to say for now, I take it?”

She just answered with a quiet shake of the head. He gave her a shrug and a wave in turn. “Suppose I'll be seeing you around, then?”

“Y-yeah.” Biz chuckled inwardly as she hurried off. Goodness, she sounded almost embarrassed, but also… happy. And he was glad for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...and the metaphorical spilling of a secret, yes.


	3. Perception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The eye of the beholder is of great import.

Another day, another time, another attempt at conversation with a wordless mythical figure from legend. Just another normal day for Biz as of late, and so he pressed Glitch for answers. “So, I have to know;  _ why _ are you kitted out like that?”

“Aesthetics. It is… important to us.” She shifted awkwardly. “Stand out, make my mark, be recognized.” Glitch reached up and tapped at an odd emblem emblazoned on her shoulders. “This is old and rare. A mark of prowess.”

He shook his head and sighed, may as well get right to the point. “You look like one of Nef's cronies.”

“I'm  _ not _ one.” She sounded almost disgusted at the very idea. 

“ _ Look _ like one. All outworlders stand out here but you in particular… going around with a suit like that will scare people.”

“Oh…” She looked down at her hands and then over a shoulder towards the various crowds. Most everyone turned to avoid her gaze, but for a defiant ventkid that threw a wildly rude gesture instead. She looked back towards Biz and waved her hand, and he felt a small shift in gravity as she casually spun a mote of neutronium around her fingers. “Aren't they right to be scared?”

He wasn't going to let her little show of power phase him. Glitch was a friend, as far as he cared, and he knew she wouldn’t hurt him. “You're helping us, and  _ saving _ them,” he gestured towards the workers outside. “You're a hero, and they should see you as one. Why would you want to frighten them off?” 

She took a long time to respond, focused on trying to reshape the star ever smaller as she thought. She didn't know how, but she felt the need to boil it down to a singular point, as though the act could simplify any of her swirling thoughts. How should one summarize countless millennia of violence, acts too great to even be remembered? She knew enough of her history to know what she had to have done, even if the memories were lost. Even now awake she still engaged in endless violence for… what little reasons? She wasn't even quite sure anymore. “I'm not a hero. You don't know what I've done. What we've done...” 

Biz could tell that she was upset, struggling with a weight familiar to one he carried. He hesitated for a moment, but then reached out to place a hand on her shoulder. “Don't think about the past. Think about what you do now. The things you've done here? You're  _ my _ hero, at the very least.”

She tossed the particle into the air, watching as it fizzled away into nothing. Eventually she sighed and answered him, somewhat dismissively. “If you say so...”


	4. Small Comforts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenno have odd interests.

Biz had himself a few hobbies, but one of his favorites was sewing. He mostly made little plush toys for the vent children, but many of the Tenno seem to have taken an interest in his work. On one return, Glitch found him repairing the torn leg of an over-loved virmink floof. He put it aside to speak with her, but she waved and interrupted him. “Please, finish. I’ll wait.”

It was a little awkward, being watched silently as he worked, but it didn’t take him too long. There was no commentary given, just silent observation as he finished up the stitching. If anything, the Tenno seemed utterly fascinated by watching him work. He couldn't help but comment after a while. "Familiar with any craftworks yourself?"

"No.” She gazed down at her hands and flexed them a bit, lost in contemplation. “I didn't know that it … was a thing? Building things like that." She sounded smaller than usual, almost embarrassed. Biz nodded his head and went back to work; only a few stitches left. Soon enough he was done and placed the toy on a nearby shelf, but saw how it still caught her gaze. 

"Do you want to have a better look?" 

He was answered with only a shy nod, but he was more than happy to give it to her.

The Tenno held the toy as though it were a fragile artifact, carefully running her fingers over the soft fabric and examining the little features he had made on it. The embroidered nose, little boltbutton eyes, the different stitching technique he used on the tail. She squeezed it here and there, gently, and seemed utterly transfixed by its features. He wasn't quite sure what it was that he was witnessing, but he had a feeling that it was important. 

“Tenno?”

She suddenly snapped out of it and looked up at him, shoulders slumping in a quiet embarrassment as she quickly handed it back. Seeing that reaction broke his heart; the last thing he would do was admonish her for this. “That one is for another, but I have a spare one over here if you would like to have it.”

Glitch nodded softly, evidently not feeling up to words. He went to retrieve his spare and they traded wordlessly, a brown virmink for green pobber. She took it and rather than examine it again, brought the thing to her heart, squeezing the soft toy in a tight hug. It seemed almost desperate, like a frightened child clinging to the only soft comfort they could find. 

He let her take her time. He thought he heard something, a quiet whimper, before she finally pulled it away to look at it again, then up at him, sheepish and questioning. That there even was a question was absurd to him; the ownership of a little stuffed animal was the least of his concerns. “It's yours, keep it.”

Her voice was small before, but now it was almost miniscule, barely a whisper that cracked with untold emotion. “Thank you…” 

Whatever he had witnessed, he knew that there was more to it. Word evidently spread from the one Tenno, and before long he had other patrons of his side hobby, various stoic and frightening warriors that took a profound interest in small playthings. Seeing the likes of a battle-scarred Rhino take a plush critter into his massive arms and run off excitedly was certainly something else, but Biz took it all in stride as another strangeness of these Tenno. It didn't feel as though it'd be right to ask why, but still he wondered as to the answer. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, this is as far as I've gotten on putting my ideas into some sort of cohesive format. Might be more, might not, I'm rather scatterbrained...


End file.
